Published: June 28, 2009 09:29 am      

Russell senior wins the Super Quik 5K

FLATWOODS — Tanner Alexander used the gas station as fuel for the finish as he placed first in the 14th annual Super Quik 5K on Saturday.

“I knew I was going to kick when I saw that Super Quik sign,” Alexander said. “It’s a nice flat finish; a good quarter mile of straight full sprint.”

The Russell senior-to-be finished with a time of 17:15, well ahead of the competition.

Thirty-four-year-old Mark McFann, a Pedro, Ohio native, placed second for the second consecutive year.

Mandy Musick, who placed second in the female division the past two years, finally achieved her goal.

“I’ve been wanting to win this race so much because they put your name in the little brochure,” said the 2006 Fairview graduate.

Musick placed first in the Run by the River two weeks ago in Russell. She will go for her personal triple crown when she laces up her running shoes for the Summer Motion 10K next week.

Or unlaces them.

Thanks to both Alexander and Musick, the secret to winning the Super Quik 5K has been discovered.

Let your shoes untie and run like the wind.

Both champions noticed that one of their shoes was untied within the first half mile of the race.

“I’m going to untie it every race now,” Musick joked. “I didn’t want to stop because I was afraid someone would pass me. I was hoping it would just fall off.”

Musick, who usually thrives in races of longer distances, ran the course twice Thursday and once Friday in preparation. She finished in 20:45.

According to Alexander, he has been running about 60 miles a week in preparation for summer races as well as the high school cross country season this fall.

Neither six-time champion Ron Duncan nor three-time champion Sarah Appleton competed in Saturday’s run, but an impressive total of 213 runners participated, which even included a participant from Ontario, Canada.

“We have international acclaim here,” said Super Quik President Lynn Rice. “We’re proud of the people that come out. It’s all for the runners and doing our community service work.”

Competitors’ ages ranged from 5 to 77. Canon Sanders of Ashland was the youngest and Richard Balmer of Ironton was the oldest.

The top 10 runners finished in 20 minutes or less, including 59-year-old Lanny Fraley, an Ashland native who finished at exactly 20:00.

One of the most challenging parts of the course is the downhill slope in which you have to, in turn, climb back up.

“The downhill kind of spoiled me,” said Alexander, who competed in his first Super Quik 5K. “You go down that hill, then you have to turn back around and go back up it, so I was kind of wishing I didn’t go so fast.”

Although Sarah Appleton was not in the mix this year, her sister, Rachel, placed third in the female group with a time of 21:52. Taylor Hacker (21:08) was second.